I am a student planning to use LCA on agricultural products in India. There are multiple options for LCA software, but either the software itself or the supporting database is expensive. However, I am afraid that a cheaper option will also compromise on the quality.
How do I make a best choice? What are your experiences using LCA software? Do the companies provide necessary support and technical-help when needed?
Dear Rachael Alphonso,
The best software to develop an LCA is OpenLCA and SimaPRO, using the latest version of Ecoinvent. But it currently has an extension of the R Studio software called CropLCA that is said to facilitate the quantification of environmental impacts.
Kind Regards, Fernando Lermen
I completely agree with @ Fernando Henrique Lermen. It is the best option.
Rachael Alphonso , you can also read about recent GaBi methods (below). In academic settings I have been in, these two (i.e. SimpPro, GaBi) appear to be the two competing options. Keep in mind that different software front ends can make use of the same databases.
https://www.gabi-software.com/fileadmin/gabi/The_Agricultural_LCA_model_V1.4_2019.pdf
There is another thread on this exact topic initiated by D G G P Karunaratne:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Which_is_the_better_software_for_LCA_Gabi_or_Simapro
Thank you for your suggestions.
Fernando Henrique Lermen Anju Baroth Cory Jensen and Paras Nath Jha
Paras Nath Jha and Anju Baroth Would you comment on the availability of training for the use of these software in India?
Rachael Alphonso Yes, both Simapro and Gabi offer training in India. You can find more details of SimaPro training here
http://www.sipl-sustainability.com/training_news.html
Alternatively, contact Mr. Sunil at +91-9911921666. He is the owner of SIPL and distributor for SP in India.
Fernando Henrique Lermen You mentioned an extension called CropLCA. I find it difficult to understand if the extension if of OpenLCA, SimaPro or Ecoinvent. Please kindly clarify. Thank you.
I am a PhD student working on LCA of WWTPs in NIgeria, I am trying to decide between simapro and openlca. I want to test openLCA with Rstudio.
Dear Charles Ogbu, I suggest OpenLCA due is a free software, but SIMAPro has a lot of results concerning sensitivity and uncertainty analysis that OpenLCA don't have. Additionally, regarding the combination of the software I am not aware of, I suggest reading the article that proposed CropLCA.
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